Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Tuesday blamed the previous Congress government for the floods in Bengaluru, ANI reported. The Congress was in power in Karnataka from 2013 to 2018.
“This happened because of maladministration and totally unplanned administration of the previous Congress government,” Bommai told reporters. “They never thought of maintaining the lakes. They gave permission right, left and centre in the lakes and buffer zone.”
However, Congress state president DK Shivakumar alleged that the “corrupt” BJP government and its officials were responsible for the situation.
Many parts of Bengaluru are marooned by floods after two days of torrential rain. On Sunday, the city received 131.6 millimetres rainfall, making it the third highest single-day downpour ever recorded in the country’s IT capital.
Visuals shared on social media showed vehicles submerged in water and commuters trying to wade through it. Water had also entered several housing complexes in the city and residents were evacuated using boats and tractors.
On Monday night, a 23-year-old woman was killed due to electrocution while she was returning home from work on her scooter because of flooded roads in Whitefield.
Schools in the rain-battered city also declared holidays and some companies have asked their employees to work from home, according to PTI.
On Tuesday, Bommai said the rainfall in the city is unprecedented.
“Karnataka, especially Bengaluru has not received unprecedented heavy rain...for the last 90 years such rain has not been recorded,” he said, according to PTI. “All the tanks are full and are overflowing, some of them have breached, and there have been continuous rains, every day it is raining.”
The chief minister also said that an image was being created as if the entire Bengaluru city is facing difficulties, which was not the case.
“Basically the issue lies in two zones, particularly the Mahadevapura zone for reasons such as the presence of 69 tanks in that small area and almost all of them have either breached or are overflowing,” Bommai said. “Secondly, all establishments are in low-lying areas, and the third is encroachments.”
Shivakumar urged Bommai and his administration to perform or face election. “If there were encroachments during the Congress tenure, let them [Bharatiya Janata Party] clear it, they had earlier got five years’ time, they had now got five years, they should have done it…not performing while in power and blaming previous Congress governments instead is not right,” he added.
Meanwhile, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike chief commissioner Tushar Giri Nath urged residents not to panic and said that the civic body has enough resources to tackle the situation, The Indian Express reported.
“The BBMP is using around 20 boats to evacuate people and an equal number of pumps to flush out water from inundated areas,” he said.
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